Rock n Rose Restaurant, Richmond, London

View out to front of Rock and Rose

Curiously, it says on Rock and Pose sorry Rock and Rose's website that they are an award winning restaurant which is intriguing, after my visit I felt this is definitely not a place for folk with discernible palates. Rock and Rose is full of promise, they have an exciting web page with the usual high res pics of a beautifully decorated eatery. The owners have done a wonderful job in creating a cosy, monochrome styled restaurant that oozes fun, but it is, without a comparable menu. R&R attract a demographic more consistent with that of a celebration or hen's night destination, and if that is their objective then more power to them!

Haloumi starter

Sashimi of Tuna & Salmon

For me its perhaps unintentionally(?) more of a faux glamour environment - not really true sophistication but wonderfully popular nevertheless. I figure R&R serve adequate food for folk who are there to enjoy great cocktails, create a fun evening in a beautiful setting. So given that context, unfortunately it is probably not the best place for food centric folk like myself to visit, as I was to discover. I found the menu a confusing mismatch of burgers, surf and turf food crossed with befuddled oriental styled plates that appear to be throw backs to the 90's.  It was simply un-inspiring, the best choice I could muster from the menu were Halloumi cheese salad with nuts and sweet potato for starters and the burger and fries. Unless of course you have nerves of steel and order the 40 quid lobster- 40 squid for a lobster? (when they sell lobster for 20 squid in London with a free cocktail ).... like hell, I'm not brave enough to:

A) have someone execute a lobster thermidore when they have lamb shank served with nuts and again the sweet potato with chilli on the menu - I mean, what is that? 

and

B) not one soul in the entire restaurant was eating or had ordered any lobster.

So there you have it. If you want a decent lobster - head to burger and lobster in London.

So, you know in all actuality there was nothing wrong with either of the dishes I had, I mean sure I've had better burgers, but I had deliberately chosen plates that were easy to execute and the burger was perfectly served pink. The tuna with their sushi starter however was on the turn, it smelled and tasted fishy - that means it wasn't fresh and unfortunately had the chic geek rushing to the loo later in the evening, and if you're wondering, yes I thoroughly questioned him over what he'd eat during the day, he was convinced of the tuna but in all fairness you can never be 100% certain of cause. The lamb shank was ok, perfectly fine to eat even though it had the oriental fliff flaff. We opted for the cheeseboard to finish and I must say, this was actually a pretty good selection of British cheeses. They'd paired it with a curry chutney that completely over powered the cheese but otherwise it was great.

Lamb Shank - wtf?

The Cheeseboard - great

The service was bubbly, but the waitress forgot drinks and ordered the wrong dish and we were asked to vacate our seats without any warning - she hesitantly came to us at 9.30pm and said I need the table back at 9.30pm. lol. We were shifted to the lovely outdoor setting albeit amongst the smokers but we were ok with that.  

R&R could be so much more than a destination, with an updated menu they could be a truly reputable restaurant, but something tells me if they wanted to change they would have by now. If they are happy with what they're doing, each to their own.

Dramatic Chandliers

Beautiful Setting

See what rating I gave this on my zomato.com/goodkai profile